Chapter 37: Raid of Artaozus

“Go! Hurry up and go!!” Hielos pulled him back and took the lead in running, then the soldiers immediately withdrew.

The Persian cavalry came rushing again with their bows, while several of them lifted Mithridates’ body and the rest went to chase the Greek soldiers. This time, they have learned and divided into 2 so that they can surround Davos on both sides.

“Watch out for their bows and arrows!” Hielos shouted and beckoned the soldiers to disperse.

Davos, who lacked experience in the middle of the team, had slightly hesitated and was suddenly thrown down from behind, then he heard a groan.

“Olivos!” Davos recognized the one with twisted face due to pain, but there was no time for him to think more. Matonis and Giorgris, who was next to them, had quickly pulled them both and run to the curve ahead.

“Woosh! Woosh!…” Several arrows came again, and there were two more screams.

By this time, their reinforcement had arrived, and the peltast row threw their javelins at the Persian cavalry, then held up their leather shield and continued to charge forward. Then came the hoplites with their erected shields that formed a wall of shields to block the arrows.

The Persian cavalry that were just over 20 people did not dare to fight and quickly fled together with the body of Mithridates.

Davos then finally had the opportunity to see Olivos’ injury.

Olivos saw that Davos was coming and quickly broke away from Giorgris.

“Leader… I… I-” Before he could finish, Davos gave him a powerful hug, “My good brother, thank you!!”

Upon hearing this, the gloomy face of Olivos revealed a smile, and his whole body relaxed, then came the pain, “Ugh!” He groaned.

Davos had thought that he had touched his wound and hurriedly let go.

“Hey, Olivos, fortunately the arrow hit you in the ass, if the arrow hit the front, then I won’t have any idea what your scream would be like!” Matonis taunted.

“Damn you Matonis, you should try getting hit next time since you are brave!” Olivos touched the arrow on his ass and sarcastically retorted.

The commotion had returned to the squad of Hielos.

In addition to Olivos, there was another soldier that got shot in his thigh and the other one in the back, however due to the thick armor, he only suffered a shallow wound.

“Giogris, you go bring Olivos to Herpus and asked him to treat Olivos well!” After that, Davos patted the shoulder of Olivos, “Get treated and come back to fight with us as soon as possible!”

“Yes, leader!” Olivos loudly responded.

“A very good raid! Unexpectedly, you actually succeeded. We were all worried about you just now!”

“Yeah, you manage to kill Mithridates, and partially took revenge for Menon, the entire mercenary should be grateful!”

“Timasion had said back then that we were crazy to randomly elect a leader, I wonder what he will say now?”

Philesius and the captains, Antonios and Kapus, came together and congratulated Davos, while Amintas directly saluted him.

The clever Asistes brought a horse to let Davos mount it.

The soldiers consciously gave way to him, while shouting victory as they welcomed him back to their battle formation…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What did you say?! Davos killed Mithridates?!” After listening to the heralds, Timasion looked as if he couldn’t believe it, “We are currently at war, and if you relayed wrong information then you will be punish!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Davos killed Mithridates!” Xenophon exclaimed, “He came up with a bold plan and succeeded!”

“Excellent!” Hieronymus then spoke with hatred, “This time let see who else wanted to flee! With the death of Mithridates, the Persians will surely vent their anger on those deserters!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cheirisophus carefully listened to the narrative of Tolmides. Although he very much doesn’t like this young man, but he had to admit that he had done quite well this time and it could even be said that he had saved the whole mercenary troops. Because he very well knew that the mercenaries lacked discipline, their management was lax and even though they were not afraid of the attack of the enemy and the more they fiercely attack, the more the mercenaries will be united. However, the method of Mithridates will disrupt the morale of the soldiers, which will cause the collapse of the whole mercenary over time.

Thinking of this, he loudly said to Tolmides with a smile on his face, “Please go give my gratitude to leader Davos for his efforts for the whole mercenary troops on my behalf! And also, remind him that the attack of the enemy might soon come.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What?! Mithridates died?!” Ariaeus could not believe what he had heard.

“Yes, general, his body is outside your quarter!” said the guard.

Ariaeus hurried out of his quarter, followed by Artaozus then the confidant sent by Tissaphernes.

Mithridates’ body had been treated simply, but it’s still terrible with 4~5 wounds and a bloody fist-size hole on his neck in which the blood continuously ooze.

Ariaeus bent down and was about to closely look at it, when Artaozus couldn’t help but shout at the Persian cavalry that fled, “Who did it?! Who did it?!”

“It is…a soldier of Menon, they…” The Persian cavalryman completed describing the whole process as he stuttered.

“A group of idiots! You actually got defeated by the trash of Menon! Since you did not manage to protect Mithridates, each of you will be subjected to 30 lashes according to the military law, then as punishment, you will be sent to the supply unit as a servant.” Artaozus angrily shouted.

“General, spare us! General, spare us!!” The Persian cavalryman pleaded for mercy.

Although these cavalryman are proficient in Greek, it didn’t change the fact that Ariaeus has no intention in stopping Artaozus. He instructed the guards to detain the cavalryman and then said, “Go and bring a few Greeks that have run away, I want to asked them in detail.”

“What’s there to ask! Kill them all! Then lead the army to attack those Greek barbarian!” Artaozus impatiently shouted.

“After their leader were captured by us, the mercenaries must have elected new leaders. We must first understand who they are before we can take the next step.” Ariaeus patiently persuaded him.

“You go ask, while I’ll go avenge Mithridates first!” Artaozus angrily left.

Ariaeus shrugged helplessly at the confidant of Tissaphernes. Nominally, he was the leader after the death of Cyrus the Younger. But in fact, Mithridates and Artaozus each had their own troops and both of them were good friend, they confronted Ariaeus in secret and in the open, which often constrained Ariaeus. When Mithridates died today, Ariaeus was secretly pleased, compared with the sly Mithridates, the impulsive Artaozus was much easier to handle…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Artaozus was impulsive when doing things, but when it comes to fighting he wasn’t a fool. He knew that the Persian infantry could not beat the Greek hoplite and so he only chose 200 mounted archers and 200 archers, and hurriedly led them to catch up with the Greek troops.

Because the troops of Artaozus were mounted archers and archers, therefore they are highly mobile. In the afternoon, the huge formation of the Greeks entered his sight.

“Instruct the troops to spread out into goose formation and quickly pressure them forward!” Artaozus elatedly gave instruction, as his gaze became cold and murderous

The Persian army was on the right rearguard, the troops of Cleanor had anticipated the arrival of the Persians, but when they only saw few enemies, they had thought that they were only gonna shout again like they did last time. Therefore, although they were on guard, they didn’t take them too seriously.

However, the Persians quickly spread out and approached them, and in the blink of an eye, the distance was only less than 100 meters.

Cleanor felt something wrong, and shouted, “Prepare for defense!”

As soon as his words fell, the Persian arrows had arrived and most of the arrows fell like raindrops on the soldier’s shields. Because of the Greek soldiers’ tight formation and the close proximity between the hoplite and peltast, some of them were immediately got injured and most of the injured were the peltast.

“Dispersed the formation and the hoplites rushed forward!” Cleanor anxiously conveyed his order.

The arrows struck once more, some fell and screamed. At this time the troops was slightly in a mess, specially the supply unit that was behind them, the guards and servants rushed northward with the neighing horses and cattle, away from the rearguard in order to avoid the disaster.

The Persians immediately withdrew, as soon as the 3 hoplite units that were armed with round shields, rushed past the raining arrows.